People Profile
People Profile Ben Fitzgerald Ben has nearly 20 years’ experience in the lifting and rigging industry and shares with us how his business Queensland Rigging Hire is committed to keeping their customers safe through quality rigging products. Thanks for your time Ben. Can you give us a summary of your professional journey so far? My career in the lifting and rigging industry began back in 2002 when the company I was working for started to import round and web slings to supply to our existing customers at the Port of Brisbane. I learned a lot about the Australian Standards, importing and retailing this equipment. I started as a storeman / delivery driver and after 11 years with the company, I was Queensland State Manager with 9 staff, turning over millions of dollars annually and consistently outperforming every other state in Australia. I am forever grateful to the owners and management of this company for teaching and giving me so much. From 2012 – 2014 I started a role growing the Queensland operations for a rental company. During this time, I was heavily involved in LNG projects in Gladstone and learned a great deal about lift operations and engineered lifts. In 2014, I started in a national sales role with a lifting and rigging wholesale supply company on the Gold Coast. Here I learned a great deal about the manufacturing of lifting equipment, 30
LIFTING MATTERS
ISSUE Q2 2021
Ben, Owner (pictured centre) alongside business partner and wife Jess and new team member Trey (right) Queensland Rigging Hire
wire rope and also about synthetic ropes including dyneema and how it is starting to revolutionise the industry. These two roles allowed me to build a network with many of the lifting & rigging companies in Australia, big and small and I met a lot of good people whom I’m still close with now. Finally, in January 2017 Queensland Rigging Hire (QRH) was born. With my wife Jess by my side, we decided to take the giant leap and go out on our own. I have been extremely blessed to have made some strong allies in my past, a number of whom assisted us in the early days as we were making our mark in the industry. QRH helps our customer base with project work, short term and last-minute equipment rental, with reliable and consistent supply, which was previously a gap in the market. We do not sell or inspect lifting equipment, we only dry hire, which puts us in a unique position to be able to service most markets directly including lifting and rigging suppliers, crane companies, construction companies and major project contractors. My motto
